Published: 21/08/24 ~ This consultation is now closed

Public Health Scotland and the Scottish Government have released Scotland’s 5 Year Vaccination and Immunisation Strategy and Delivery Plan.

This five-year strategy sets out the goals, principles and priorities that will enable the delivery of this vision to meet the needs of everyone in Scotland, focussing our efforts to maximise the health benefits of vaccination and reduce health inequalities. A once for Scotland vaccination and immunisation plan plays a vital role in contributing to Scottish Government led reform of health and social care, delivered through the Population Health plan. 

The 5-Year strategy is being published now in line with the launch of the Scottish Vaccination and Immunisation Programme. The strategy aims to deliver a successful vaccination and immunisation programme against four priority areas outlined below, by:   

1. Ensuring everyone has equitable access to the vaccines they are entitled to receive and that all reasonable steps are taken to meet the needs of all our communities.  

2. Making every contact and interaction count and optimise patient / public experience and engagement.  

3. Strengthening capacity and capability of the multi-disciplinary vaccination workforce and ensure that resources can be used flexibly to meet changing requirements.   

4. Adapting system-wide approach to achieving NHS Scotland and Public Health Scotland quality ambitions of being safe, effective, sustainable, and patient centred immunisation services across all settings.  

The above priorities of the strategy are focused on people and meeting their needs, with a particular emphasis on ensuring equitable access and uptake. The strategy strives for inclusion, as it is a necessity for population health. Achieving this also requires efficient use of resources and strong system enablers including leadership, communication, governance, and digital systems. 

Consultation Ask: 

This consultation is asking for open comment on the overall strategy and delivery plan as well as the mission statement. See consultation ask below. 

We are keen to receive comments on all aspects of the strategy and delivery plan and would welcome specific views on ambition within the mission statement ‘Our mission is to deliver a world-class, person-centred and public health led vaccination and immunisation service.  

Community Pharmacy Scotland Response: 

Community Pharmacy Scotland (CPS) recognises the need for equitable access to vaccination; community pharmacies are situated across Scotland, in urban and rural areas, close to where people live and work. On this basis, inclusion of the community pharmacy network in the Immunisation and Vaccination Delivery Plan would help to support vaccination uptake as a valuable addition to the other routes through which vaccination will be provided. CPS strongly advise that community pharmacies in Scotland should be involved with the delivery of a ‘Once for Scotland’ approach to vaccination and immunisation as part of the wider primary care system.  

Priority area no.3 Strengthening capacity and capability of the multi-disciplinary vaccination workforce, should look at the community pharmacy workforce and consider future capacity and capability of Pharmacy Technicians to deliver vaccinations under PGD, in line with recent legislative changes to the Human Medicines Regulations 2012. 

This change in legislation could support the delivery of priority 3 by expanding the workforce beyond the current availability of vaccinators and in turn support the delivery of the 5-Year strategy.

We would ask that when implementing an end-to-end digital solution as part of the enabling actions to support priority four, that private vaccination recording is included as part of this to remove disjointed working and improve vaccination record keeping for patients regardless of how they chose to access services. Currently private vaccinations cannot be recorded on the Vaccination Management Tool, which community pharmacies have access to when providing NHS vaccination services. Having one vaccination record for each patient ensures vaccination and immunisation is kept up-to-date and allows better data analysis from a public health perspective. 

In relation to the mission statement, a patient-centred service needs to crucially be delivered where patients have ease of access to services. Community based service delivery also helps to uphold equitable access to services for those who face barriers, like travel and transport, to ultimately contribute to a reduction in health inequalities. CPS believes the community pharmacy network has a real role to play within the strategy to support this part of the mission.